Many people post photos and images on Facebook, as well as using text messaging and email. But the most popular way to share your favorite photos and videos is by using Instagram. How popular is it? How about one billion users around the glove! That’s a huge number, and that could lead to a problem. Here’s why: when you’re sharing those great images with friends and family members, the whole world is able to see them as well. Yes – anyone who is on Instagram can see the images you share. And that’s not always advisable!
Keeping Private Images Private
What can you do to protect your privacy, while still sharing the images you love? Thankfully, Instagram has a way to keep hackers and cyber crooks out of your private images – it’s called going Private. Once you make your account private, you’ll share images only with the folks you want to share your images with, while keeping them away from everyone else on Instagram.
There’s one issue related to going private; once you choose to go “private,” anyone who was following you when you made that choice will continue to be following you, so they’ll still be able view your images and videos. Don’t despair! If you see a name that you don’t recognize or a person that you don’t want to provide access to, simply remove them from your individual follower’s list. The best part – it’s easy to do.
The smart practice is to block anyone following you that you don’t know. Simply go to your Instagram “Profile,” and tap on “Follower Count.” Scroll through your list, and click on the large “Remove Button” next to the name of anyone you want to delete. Just click – and they’re gone!
Deleting your Instagram Account
Whether it’s privacy issues or concern over data hacking, there may be a time when you decide that you’d like to delete your Instagram account altogether. It happens a lot – and of course you can always create a new account if you want. The good news is that it’s not a complicated process, but there are some steps that have to be taken to do it correctly.
You could take the additional step of hiding your “Activity Status,” which let’s people know the last time you were using your Instagram account. Here’s another tactic that many people use: revoking access to third-party apps. This is particularly important with regard to apps that Facebook or Instagram didn’t create. The reason is that those third-party apps have free access to your personal information, data and your profile, which means that someone intent on hacking into your account can gain access to your personal and private info.
So how do you delete your Instagram account? Just log into your account, scroll to the “Delete My Account” link, and provide a reason why you’re deleting your account on their drop-down menu. Once you do that, you’ll be asked to re-enter your password, followed by a click on, “Permanently Delete My Account.” It’s located at the bottom of the screen. That’s all there is to it! In order to be sure that you’re following the required steps, review the handy guide on how to delete Instagram account.
Other Privacy Concerns
Instagram has taken steps to address the privacy concerns of the app’s users. For example, they’ve provided a way to check to see if your Instagram account has already been hacked. Just check on your past account activity to see if there are unknown or unfamiliar sign-ins, along with other factors including logouts, password changes and more. Nobody knows your Instagram account activity better than you do, so check on it to stay safe.
As with other Instagram activities, it’s relatively easy to do. Just log in to Instagram on the web, and click on the “Person” icon that is located in the upper-right hand corner of your screen. Click on the “gear” icon, and then go to “Privacy and Security” followed by “View Account Data.” Check on the “Account Privacy Changes,” “Password Changes,” and Stories Activity.” Review these categories, and if you see any type of unfamiliar activity that you didn’t initiate, you’ll know that somebody else has gotten into your account. To correct this situation, immediately change your password.
Keep Your Location Private
One of the key ways to help prevent identity theft and mask your account’s information from cyber crooks is to keep your location services turned off.It’s particularly important when doing “check-ins” initiated at home, work or while on vacation. Often, criminals were alerted that you weren’t home due to check-ins made on social media. For example, some people left on a short vacation, posted photos and information about their holiday online, only to return to an empty house.
Two-Factor Authentication
For added security, consider using two-factor authentication on your Instagram account. Just on the outside chance a hacker gains access to your password, they’ll be blocked out of hacking your account because they won’t be able to access the second factor needed for account authentication.
How does this work? After you enter your password, you’ll receive a text from Instagram that has a time-sensitive code that you’ll have to enter in order to access your account. Because a hacker won’t be able to see this code, they won’t be able to gain entry to your account. When you couple this two-factor authentication with a strong password, you have a pretty secure account. If you want to create a strong password, visit https://nordpass.com/password-generator/ .
Stay Safe
There are other strategies to use to stay safe when using Instagram. Be very careful of the images you send – never send an image that shows you or anyone you know in a compromising situation. Also, be very careful about posting images of kids. Many experts suggest not posting images of children unless you’re sending in a private mode.
By following the suggestions outlined above, and using good judgment, you’ll be able to enjoy using Instagram to share images and videos. Of course if you run into privacy issues, you can always delete your account.
